1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of NFC communications, and in particular to a method and device to modify NFC routing parameters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile telephones and other types of mobile devices are increasingly being equipped with NFC (Near-Field-Communication) interfaces, which enable them to perform electromagnetic transponder functions in addition to their other functions. In particular, such devices are able to emulate the functions of an electromagnetic transponder, which could be of the contactless card type, or the contactless reader type. Such functionality for example enhances the mobile device, by allowing it to be used for various applications, for example as an electronic wallet allowing payments to be made for accessing services such as transport networks.
To emulate the operation of a contactless card, the mobile device is generally equipped with a contactless front-end integrated circuit (CLF), also called an NFC router. This router is equipped with a radio frequency (RF) transceiver front-end coupled to a low-range antenna to match the communication capabilities of an electromagnetic transponder. In some applications, a secure element (SE) or embedded secure element (eSE), either integrated in the mobile device or contained in a micro-circuit of the subscriber identification module (SIM), universal SIM (USIM) or μSD (micro secure digital), can be used to provide authentication.
The NFC router comprises an NFC routing table, which indicates to which hardware the NFC messages received by the NFC router should be routed. For example, some NFC messages, such as those relating to certain types of electronic payment, are to be routed to a secure element of the mobile device. To take one specific example, a VISA application may be running in communication with a Secure Element of a USIM. Other types of NFC messages are to be routed to the host processor of the mobile device. As an example, a MasterCard application may be running in HCE (Host Card Emulation), in other words in the Device Host environment (the names “VISA” and “MasterCard” may correspond to registered trademarks).
In view of the sensitive information that may pass through the NFC router, the NFC routing table should be secured against unauthorized modifications. However, existing solutions are ineffective in certain application environments.